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- Topic: Hebrew >
- "האם אבא בא?"
84 Comments
So, the difference between "dad is coming" and "is dad coming?" Is just the question mark. Now I understand.
yes, but האם is usually more formal. in every day speech it would usually just be an added question mark
Like they said. If "האם" is used it implies a Yes/No question. But it's not mandatory, and in informal speech is usually omitted, and then you can understand by either a question mark when reading, or a higher intonation at the end of the sentence when speaking (as used in many languages)
If האם is in the sentence is the question mark really necessary? Can I just write "האם אבא בא?
[replying to your reply to my earlier reply]
That's what the speaker who recorded for Duolingo does (a rising tone to end a question), as in this example (even though this example also has ‘האם’, so it's not exactly necessary). I don't know any more than that.
Can anyone help me and tell me what the root of this word is. Is it from ה and אם? If so What are the meaning of these two words?
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@Vered898883. There are patterns, but they are rather advanced, so for now it's easier to remember each word by heart, as we come across it.
Also, עכשיו is "achshav".
THIS, is what I was looking for! Thanks a lot! It is sort of similar to the formal and informal ways of asking a question in French like, for example : (formal) Est-ce que tu viens ? (are you coming?) or (informal) Tu viens ? (are you coming?)
In Hebrew, I still get irritated and would like to get a logic answer about vowels. Why do we pronounce an "a" sound, in a word written without any "aleph" or an "ee" sound, in a word without a "youd". Very confusing, unless we can trace where it stems from... or should we just learn the words by heart?
One word that amazes me is: "archav" (עכשיו), written "archiv"!
Yes, Yonatan is right. In every day speech I would say "אבא בא?", without "האם". The question mark/intonation that makes the difference. "האם" is more formal.
Looks like it. Cool that the two language's vocab are so similar, especially since I am already learning Arabic!
Yes (: But in every day speech I would say "אבא בא?", without "האם". The question mark/intonation that makes the difference. "האם" is more formal.
Yes, in every day speech we also take هل "hel" and just throw it away, so instead of saying هل أبي قادم "Hel abi qadim?" (Is dad coming?) we just say ?أبي قادم.
Unfortunatly, hebrew doesn't have "real" vowels to guide you while reading. There are letters that may, sometimes, be "vowels". A ו (Vav) in the middle of a word may indicate an /o/ or /u/ sound. For instance - גורם (noun - cause, verb - cause/s) is pronounced /gorem/ - the Vav stands for the O. Hanukkah is חנוכה - the Vav stands for the U. The letter י (Yud/Yod) in a middle of a word may indicate an /ee/ sound. For example - אישה (a woman) is pronounced /eesha/ - the Yud/Yod stands for the /ee/. However, sometimes you should just guess (or actually, memorize) - like in האם. Hebrew is an abjad - it's more about consonants, not "real" vowels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjad
Duolingo does not show the Nikud-the vowels in Hebrew. with time, you learn how to pronounce the word without it. if you want to learn more here is an Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtQLkguB0tw
That's right. But people usually write without nikkud, and also have to read (signs, magazines, etc.) without it.
Okay so just so I'm 100% clear: "האם" is typically optional, is there in case you want to emphasis that you're asking a question?
I think i should learn the alphabet first...and there should be a rule for the vowels...it seems that the sound of some consonant changes.. HELP....thanks
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Learning the alphabet might help ofc, although for this specific problem there aren't many rules, you usually have to understand the word from context. Here, for example, the only vowels with rules are the Bets (ב) in אבא בא. There's an Aleph (א) following, so they have to be pronounced as 'Ba'. As for the rest - you're gonna have to memorize :)
OR: We can learn like kids do in Israel. We can be introduced to the vowel markers at first and then have them removed later. And if people alraedy know all of this they can test out and move on. This is such a simple thing to do. Duolingo can do this SO EASILY. They do it great for japanese! But not hebrew. So wierd.
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Not as easy as you think. There are sentences where nikkud is used, but it has been causing soo much trouble and bugs, because Duolingo system isn't really good with non-alphabet languages. It's gotten much better, but the problem is that Hebrew was developed on the old platform, and Japanese, which you mention, on the new platform. That is why they teach it differently. But in order for Hebrew to do the same, you need a total re-doing of the tree, which isn't easy, nor fast.
Yeah learning the alphabet gives you a better understanding. But some vowels do change or don't matter sometimes. Like one vowel makes an "ih" sound but other times its silent.
Remind me how indefinites work... could this be translated as "is a dad coming?"
in this case, it would be the same. but: your dad is coming: אבא שלך מגיע someone's dad is coming: אבא של מישהו מגיע
Oh, yeah, I know. Or, I mean, I wasn't asking about possessives. I realize those are different.
Ha'im is a question word that you put before a yes/no question. Let's take the declaration אבא בא (dad is coming), and make a yes/no question of it (is dad coming?). For this, we would add האם before אבא בא, and a question mark at the end of the sentence - האם אבא בא? (is dad coming?). When saying this phrase, we would obviously use an intonation of a question. Another example - let's take the declaration "החדר קטן" (ha'kheder katan, the room is small), and make a yes/no question out of it (is the room small?). Again - האם, ?, and intonation. האם החדר קטן? yes or no. כן או לא. *Note:*** in every day speech and writing, we would not use האם at all. Only a question mark while writing, and an intonation of a question while speaking. האם אבא בא? will turn into אבא בא?. (lalala computer don't mess up my Hebrew and English pleassseee). האם החדר קטן? will turn into החדר קטן?.
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Can I understand it as "if", like in "(I wonder) If the father is going" and btw can it be a standalone please/sentence, without "I wonder"-part?
Is this the hebrew version of continuous present tense? As opposed to אבא בא? Is this one more like "The father is coming," and the other one more like "The father comes"?
in Hebrew there only three times-past, present and future. you can say it's a question in both continuous and simple present.
If you are confused the האם for a tense, take a look at what I wrote to JanetCaterina. האם is only a question word. In Hebrew, there is only one present tense for both present simple and progressive. "comes" and "coming".
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Can someone please explain how to rapidly change between the English and Hebrew keyboards in Windows 10?
If you've got them both activated, then (theoretically) you can set them to different hotkeys, and switch back and forth by pressing the appropriate key combination. I say theoretically because, for whatever reason, my hotkeys refuse to stay bound.
Or, default is [Ctrl]+[Shift] to cycle through all of your activated keyboards.
i am hebrew native speaker, and i didn't got the answer myself yet. Duolingo is better, because he has the text aligen almost without mistakes, but most of the websites are not so good. i recommend putting the hebrew part in a new line, or between two marks like: (hebrew)\n עברית
how am i suposed to write in hebrew when i dont have a keyboard with jewish letters?
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Actually you may add Hebrew as a new Language and switch between English and Hebrew, it seems to me, this feature is included in Windows and Android, as for Apple, I am not sure. With mobile device it s easy, you see the keyboard when typing, with desktop computer it is harder,cause you have to memorize the layout or find stickersfor keys with hebrew letters. I found easier for me to install a program keyboard,which supports different layouts (some are free,some are paid), and some of them follow certain association between English and Hebrew letters,so it's easier to memorize, besides there's an onScreen keyboard(which might be on/off) mine is Tavultesoft Keyman Desktop, I guess there might be other programs alike, but this suited me by now,so I wasn't searching for something better/different
You can use SwiftKey keyboard. This is an interesting keyboard with many facilities. You can find it on Internet and Google play Store. It supports many languages. At the same time you can use five languages. You can add any language you like from its settings.
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I think you could translate it to "is it.. (?)" as in the beginning of a question in english. That's the use for האם (and not האמ, mind you, as the 'מ' is one of the letters who have a final form - meaning they appear differently when they come at the end of the word :) )
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"האם" is a question word that just tells you that the sentence following it is a question and not a statement. There were no question marks in ancient Hebrew. It can be translated to "is, are, do, does" in English.
this is wrong i thing when ה is at begging of a word it is a prefix for the i think
well ה is a letter as well as the indefinite article 'the'. That would be like saying the letter 'i' is always a word to refer to oneself when it is also a letter in numerous words.
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I would transliterate it: "ha'im abba ba?" Which is what the recording is saying. ( Well, the recording really is not doing the glottal stop with א. It is just saying "haim".)
The fact that there is no letters learned in the "letters" section is incredible to me. Just throw some people into full sentences without any familiarity of the language?!? Wow. Duolingo Japanese does this. Why not Hebrew?
Can we always pronounce the ה? Or there are some situations that you shouldn't pronounce it?
You can always pronounce the ה. There are no situations in which you shouldn’t pronounce it. However in colloquial Hebrew, many speakers
drop the initial h for ease of speaking.
Especially with she היא
and,
he הוא, the Duolingo speakers often drop the initial h, both when the word occurs at the start of the sentence or is in the middle of the sentence.
